American gunship helicopters attacked Taliban military positions near Kabul today, according to a report, while US warplanes including B-52 bombers attacked a variety of targets in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has not so far acknowledged using helicopter gunships in the campaign, and the report that they were in action - made by the Taliban-aligned Afghan Islamic Press - could not be confirmed.

US heavy bombers hammered away at Taliban hilltop positions today outside the northern town of Taloqan and attacked Taliban troops along the Kabul front in hopes of helping the opposition gain ground before the advent of winter.

Taliban diplomats in Islamabad, in Pakistan, also reported air attacks today in the northern provinces of Samangan and Balkh against positions defending the Taliban-held city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Caves and tunnels suspected as hide-outs for the Taliban and the al-Qaida terror network were also reportedly targeted by US aircraft.

The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar news agency claimed bombs killed 10 civilians and injured 15 others in a village south of Mazar-i-Sharif. Five people died and seven were wounded in a raid near Kandahar, it said.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. The Pentagon has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban's claims of widespread civilian casualties as lies.

Taloqan served as the opposition capital until Taliban troops overran it in September 2000, a major setback for the Northern Alliance. The alliance is seeking to reclaim the town, but has not been able to make any major advances despite the US bombing campaign, now in its fifth week.

To aid the rebels, more US special forces have entered Afghanistan in the last few days, Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on NBC's Meet the Press last night.

"The more teams we get on the ground, the more effectively we'll bring [opposition rebels'] power to bear on the Taliban lines," Gen Myers said.

The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said last week he hoped to at least triple the number of special forces troops inside Afghanistan, now believed to number between 100 and 200.

The general commanding US operations in Afghanistan said their purpose is "to provide an advantage to opposition leaders with whom we share a common objective".

"We synchronise our activities with their activities," Army General Tommy Franks, head of the US Central Command, said on ABC's This Week.

Yesterday, an attack by anti-Taliban forces outside Mazar-i-Sharif was reported to falter only hours after it was launched, raising questions about the ability of the opposition to exploit US air strikes without the assistance of American ground troops.

US military planners are concerned that opposition forces, who have promised a major offensive, will get bogged down with the onset of winter in the weeks ahead. Bad weather will soon make roads impassable, obstructing the resupply of frontline troops.

Mr Rumsfeld, on a tour of frontline states in the war against terrorism, sought to dispel fears that the air campaign, now in its fifth week, was failing to crack the Taliban's grip on Afghanistan.

On a stopover in Pakistan yesterday, he said the Taliban were no longer "functioning as a government" and were "not making major military moves".